I Don't Like Being Handed Things
by Claire Suzuhara
Summary: Bruce is Tony's best friend and together they are the science-bros. But Bruce begins to realize how close they really are when Pepper tells him a little known fact about Tony. original: https:/pin.it/tyg7w7tutjafys I took this idea from a headcanon found on pinterest. Leave comments and share, if you want more on this story!


Nick Fury was giving a briefing on the science assignment he need the two scientist in front of him to accomplish. He was well aware of Stark ignoring him, but he was also aware of Dr. Banner paying close attention. Well...When Stark wasn't distracting him.

"Do I make myself clear?" Fury questioned. " Or do I need to repeat myself." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Crystal." Tony lied. Bruce face palmed and nodded to Fury.

"I got it, sir. And don't worry, I'll brief him on it." Fury nodded, smirking.

"I knew I could count on you, Dr. Banner." With that, Fury exited the room.

Tony plopped down in his swivel chair and began twisting around. "I think I heard...most of it."

"Did you?" Bruce mused. Tony frowned at his friend. Bruce found this amusing.

"No..." Tony trailed off, looking around the lab. Bruce handed him a tablet and a stylus.

"Here, I took notes." Tony took them without hesitation and began reading over it and writing notes with the stylus.

Hours later, Clint strolls in and tells them Steve and Sam made dinner. The two followed Clint to the elevator to ride up to the dining floor. As they made their way over, Steve started handing out plates. Clint took it and silently thanked the Captain. Bruce took his own and asked what they were having. After Steve informed him it was chicken alfredo, Bruce took a seat at their large dining table. Steve held a plate in front of Tony.

"Here. This is for you." Steve offered. Tony backed away from him and moved his gaze elsewhere as if he were ignoring him. Pepper, from her seat at the table, took notice and made her way over.

"Thank you, Steve." She called as she relieved Steve of the plate and handed it to Tony, who took it and sat down. Pepper followed suit. Steve stood there a moment, stunned and confused by what he just witnessed. Nevertheless, he takes his own plate and sat down with everyone else.

Steve, being at the end of the table, began passing the food down. The rest of them continued the food line. Clint handed it to Natasha, who took a bird's amount of food before handing to Bruce next to her. Bruce sat next to Tony and handed him the food. Tony took the food and passed it to Pepper. The line continued like this until it was all around the whole table.

After dinner, they all sat around the table conversing about different small talk topics. Bruce noticed Pepper staring directly at him, though she never confronted him the entire night.

The next day, Bruce entered into the lab at about 3 am in the morning. Bruce wasn't too surprised to see Tony in the lab before him, the man never did sleep. This fact annoyed and worried Bruce. Only, of course, because he's a doctor and this behavior is unhealthy and not because Tony was his best friend.

Tony was tapping away at the holographic screens when he noticed Bruce walk in. He smirked and gave a small wave. To those who weren't Bruce or Pepper and got to be with Tony at early hours, Tony may seem like he never shuts up. The truth is, he's as quiet as a cloud when he hasn't had much sleep and it's late.

"Tony." Bruce probed him in his doctorly voice.

"Bruce, I think I solved it. The equation, I mean." Tony exclaimed. "Here, look at it." Tony urges, handing a tablet over to Bruce. The other man took the tablet and examined it contents. Bruce was surprised that Tony could solve it, with him being as tired as he probably is.

Bruce took a quick glance at Tony. He didn't miss the exhausted blinking Tony was doing or the deep purple bags under his gray swirl eyes. Bruce let out a deep sigh and he put down the tablet.

"Tony, you need to sleep."

"Nope!"

"Tony..."

"Bruce..." Tony whined. Bruce sighed again.

"Tony, this is unhealthy. I can't stand to see you this tired." Bruce told him. He walked over to Tony and rubbed gently under his eyes. Tony relaxed at the contact, almost dozing off. "I can help you sleep since Pepper left for her parents. Well, what do ya say?" Tony nodded silently. Bruce took his best friend by the arm and led him upstairs.

He let Tony take a shower and the rest of the bedtime routine, then he handed him pills.

"Here. Medicine. You need these because of your lack of sleep. Take em slowly." Tony nodded, took what he was handed, and obeyed. While he watched Tony crawl into bed, Bruce grabbed a chair from the corner of Tony's room and pulled it right next to the bed.

"Alright, you all settled in?" Tony nodded again.

"I'm good. Yeah. Maybe I'm more tired than I thought." Bruce raised his eyebrows.

"Gee, you think?" Bruce joked. He took one of Tony's hand and began rubbing circles on it. As he started, he felt the tension in Tony drain away. After several minutes, he felt Tony's grip loosening as his hand went limp. Bruce stood and stroked Tony's forehead gently. He watched as his chest rose and fell for a good moment before making his way out of the room and entering his own.

Bruce felt much better knowing that his very sleepy friend was finally resting. Now, he would get rested up himself and they can crack the case that Fury gave them together. He took his own shower and made his way to his bed.

The next day, Bruce woke up at 12 pm and decided to go to the lab and get things started. He half-expected to see Tony, but he didn't. After he straightened out somethings in the lab, he decided to go check on Tony so he headed to his room. When he knocked, Pepper opened the door.

"Bruce, good afternoon. What brings you here?" Pepper greeted warmly.

"Last night, I helped Tony get some sleep, I just came to check on him. Is he okay?" Bruce explained. Pepper smiled and opened the door wider.

"He's still asleep." She replied with a smile. Bruce walked in and stood by his bedside. "I was just waking him up to get him to eat something." Bruce nodded and began gently pulling Tony from his soothed slumber.

"Tony...Tony, hey. Wake up, bud." Bruce gently proded. Tony stirred and opened his eyes.

"Bruce...?" Tony slurred. He stretched and rubs the sleep from his eyes before sitting up. Bruce held out his hand and gave Tony pills. Pepper watched critically as Tony took them without question or hesitation. "More medicine..." Tony yawned.

"Yeah, to keep your energy up without taking away your rest. Just like last night. I recommend that you take a nap before dinner today, okay?" Bruce ordered gently, standing to push the meds back into his pocket.

"Mm-hm. Sure thing, Doc." Tony gave a lazy thumbs up as he stood and went to the bathroom to freshen up. Pepper stared hard at Bruce.

"Pepper, you've been staring at me since yesterday. What's going on?"

"Tony doesn't like being handed thing. So that made me realize how you handle him extremely well." That was all she said as she made her way out of the room. This left Bruce baffled by the strange factoid she left him with. He felt a little uneasy about it. Was she implying that Tony trusted Bruce enough to overcome his psychological walls?

As Bruce left Tony's room and started for the lab, he was overwhelmed with questions. Was it true? Did he really not like being handed things? Was it a result of abu--

Bruce looked up from the ground, which was where he ended up after running into something--or someone. Steve took Bruce's hand and pulled him up.

"Sorry! Are you okay, Dr. Banner?" Steve asked with concern. Bruce blinked then shook off his shock.

"Yeah, I apologize. I wasn't paying attention. My, uh...my mind is elsewhere at the moment." Steve frowned.

"Hm...anything I could help with?" Bruce shook his head for a moment, then paused. Maybe Steve can clear this up.

"Actually, I needed to ask someone," Bruce paused as he searched for his words. "Does Tony not like to be handed things?" Steve looked confused.

"Is that why?"

"Why what?" Steve took a moment to gather his own words as well.

"At dinner the other night. How could I forget?" Steve face palmed then turned to look at Bruce. " It's true. He hates being handed things." Bruce gaped.

"No way...I hand him stuff all the time!"


End file.
